Monday, July 30, 2012

Those who do not learn from history... (Edited July 31, 21:53 EDT)

Rarely do I venture outside of the realm of gaming in my LPs, but one time in Emerald I jumped ship to talk about people who have nothing better to do than bitch and moan about athletes finishing fourth or fifth at the Olympics (which were in Vancouver at the time). I said that we should still respect them for their accomplishments, even though they're missing a chunk of metal to show for it.

And now it seems the home stage curse, as well as the idiotic bashing, crossed the ocean all the way to the United Kingdom. Trust me when I say these people are quick to kick themselves for it, that's what top-level competitors do. They don't need Joe Schmoes to tell them they suck. Did you run the 100-metre dash in less than ten seconds? Did you lift 200 kilograms worth of dead weight? Did you dive from a ten-metre platform without shitting yourself, let alone perform a freaking screw attack while doing it? And more importantly, did you do all the sacrifices these people did, day after day after day, just to do what they want to do? Trust me when I say, regular folks like us have it easy compared to them. We do not have the right to criticize them for anything (bar doping, but that's not what this is about).

Of course, the organizations that are meant to support these athletes are to blame too. Going in, many of them put crushing pressure on the athletes by saying, we want this many medals or we'll have failed. Well, my message to them is, take your objectives and kindly shove them you know where (because what better company for shit than shit itself?). Let these men and women perform to the best of their ability, and if they have an off day, don't crucify them for it. Same goes for the media, where many enthusiastic reporters set targets of 22, 25, even 30 medals for Canada. Three days in, we only have one bronze medal (though we're still ahead of Beijing, where we didn't get ANYTHING for an entire WEEK). And the whining begins anew. And I'm told it's worse in the UK, with one silver and two bronze on home turf, compared to China and the United States which lead the way with 17 total.

Just shut up and enjoy the superhuman feats, regardless of who does them and where they're from. And leave the mindless fanboyism at the door. Thank you for your time.

Edit 2: And apparently the guy was arrested for sending death threats to the athlete in question.

Edit 3: Back in Canada, some separatist fucknuggets are at it again. All of our medals so far were won by athletes from Quebec, and, well, the senseless ROC bashing ain't pretty, and it's getting on my nerves. If there are any English Canadians reading this, remember we're not all pricks like that, and some of us really, really hate them. Thanks for understanding.

Yep, it is happening with out athletes (UK) as well. Weird, it's our Olympics, and we don't have any gold medals yet. And outside that single silver medal and that single bronze medal, it's been fairly disappointing for us. I think the Olympic Ceremony was much more of an achievement than anything we as a country have achieved so far.

And lo and behold, humanity has fallen deeper than ever by expecting the athletes to meet some impossible quota, constantly complaining that their athlete is not good enough. It shall be called the 12th Level of Hell. Dante then dived into the fountain where he faces a second death...

Well, a lot of my fellow americans are flipping out because generally, we domiante the olympics with by far the most medals. So far, being tied with China, everyone is worried that we don't even have the great athletes we're known for. Seriously america, when we get past gymnastics and diving I'm pretty sure we'll cruise as usual. But, until then, american olympians "suck" because we're only tied for most medals instead of having a lone lead.

The Olympics were created as a way for every country to participate in a friendly competitive event... It's almost hard to believe now. How did the "spirit of competition" grew so much that it became harmful for the whole society ? People might not believe me and just say that I'm a lazy slacker, but I still maintain that it's the biggest reason why I'm not doing any sport. The competitive pressure would probably get me a burnout or something. There's no fun in that anymore.

Yeah, the Quebec province is full of pricks. Even I admit I'm one, except of a different sort than usual. I'm more like a self-righteous prick who has trouble to accept people that have opposite values and principles than him, which is arguably worse because this gives me the tendency to uselessly clash with regular pricks and put myself in trouble.